Archive for the 'dining out' Category

Once upon a time, I was tucking into fried chicken at Popeyes, when I heard a teenaged boy at a neighbouring table proclaim, to his friend, something to the effect of, ‘So dumb for them to call these biscuits!’ He was, of course, referring to those light fluffy things that Popeyes serves with their meals (which we Singaporeans would probably call scones).

On hearing that, I could not help but marvel at his ignorance. Did he not know different things could share the same name in different places? Or that the same thing could have different names in different places?

Much later, I came across this interesting article which discusses the meanings of biscuit and cookie in British English and American English respectively.

In my book, a biscuit is thinner and crisper, and often served unadorned, whereas a cookie is chunkier and chewier, and often contains something extra (like chocolate chips). In that respect, my definitions are closer to the British English ones!

Colleagues R and M took GE and me to a yong tau foo place for lunch today. It actually isn’t very far to walk from our office, but you’d have to go uphill then downhill (and then uphill and downhill on the way back), so luckily R was driving today.

The place turned out to be a little joint, called Fatty Aunt Yong Tau Foo, located in a void deck in a sleepy HDB estate. They have a pretty large selection of yong tau foo items. Nonfried items were stored in a top-opening ice cream fridge, while fried items were placed on shelves right above. Most items are $0.50 each. They have all the different noodles and even yam rice as well, and you can have your yong tau foo with soup, sweet sauce, chilli sauce, bean sauce, laksa or minced meat.

I asked them what their recommended items were, and one of the staff replied that they were ngor hiang, yam fritters, tofu topped with meat and some special fishcake (which I think contained mushrooms). So I ordered all of those plus a few more items (no rice or noodles for me!), and paid $4.30 in all. (Everything was $0.50 except the tofu which was $0.80.)

Joanne and I made a last minute decision to meet for dinner yesterday evening. We settled on Bugis+, thinking that it would not be crowded. How wrong we were! It was just as packed as the connecting Bugis Junction! There was also some sort of yo-yo event going on in Bugis+’s atrium, and lots of weird-looking youngsters were in attendance. :P

(I must say that CapitaMall Trust has done a great job of buying over the erstwhile Illuma, a ghost town, and turning it into a mall as successful as Bugis Junction, which CapitaMall also owns.)

All the eateries on the fourth floor had ridiculously long queues, while the ones on the first floor looked blah, so we decided to venture outside to find food. We went to Japanese vegetarian restaurant Herbivore in Fortune Centre, but there was a queue, and then to dimsum joint Victor’s Kitchen in Sunshine Plaza, but it was closed for the day.

So we went back to Bugis+, where the crowds had significantly dissipated, and settled on Ma Maison. Were super hungry so we both decided to get tonkatsu sets ($19.80 each) even before we were seated. The food tasted similar to other Ma Maison outlets, but the portions seemed smaller. And each tonkatsu set came with dessert, and what we got was matcha ice cream (above), which alas, tasted much more milk than green tea. But it was served in a darling little heart shaped bowl, which in turn stood in a shallow depression in a matching saucer.

Swung by the office this morning to clear some work. To my surprise, colleague R popped in as well. Left after four hours in the office, and bussed down to Takashimaya to buy something. Was super hungry as it was almost 4 pm and breakfast had been a long time ago. Decided to dine at Tampopo as there was no queue. (Yes there were queues elsewhere!)

Ordered tonkatsu ramen ($16.80). The ramen soup was supposed to have chilli but I requested for none, as I prefer ‘plain’ ramen soups.

The tonkatsu was good! The noodles, which came with bamboo shoots and spring onions, were firm and had bite. And the soup, which came piping hot (good!), was a little bland when I first tried it. Later on, it tasted much better. Overall, I found this bowl of ramen reasonably enjoyable, although I think Santouka’s is better.

Hunger now assuaged, I went forth in search of the item I had gone there to buy……

Took leave yesterday and today. Somehow found myself at my alma mater National University of Singapore (NUS) this afternoon. Since I hadn’t been to Cedele for quite some time, decided to lunch at the Cedele branch in NUS.

It’s a tiny outlet in a bookstore called Bookhaven, which itself is in the recently completed NUS University Town (a pretty cool place in all, if I may add!). (I was curious about who operated the bookstore, and later asked the cashier, who told me that it was run by the NUS Co-op.)

Decided to end a stressful week at work by going for a solitary dinner at Great World City. Had a craving for Japanese curry, so I ended up at Ebiboshi Shotenagai, which actually houses three dining brands under one roof: Uomasa (sushi and sashimi), Bishamon (ramen) and Bentendo (Japanese fusion).

Ordered a Bishamon curry rice ($14.50), which had pork katsu, tempura prawns and fried chicken, and came with a salad on the side.

The sister left for a one-week holiday in Korea yesterday night, so we decided to have dinner at the airport before her flight, and settled on Sakae Sushi. Haven’t eaten at a Sakae Sushi for maybe four or five years.

We ordered two bento boxes. The first was chicken teriyaki and tempura,

Our new membership manager R joined us exactly a week ago and I expect he’ll be very busy very soon! :P

Anyway today our big boss M drove R, MS, DT and me out to lunch at this coffeeshop, which is somewhat near our office but difficult to walk to, located next to Orange Valley Nursing Home. M said that there is a stall in the coffeeshop which sells really nice roasted meats.

So I bought some char siew from the stall, called Yee Kee Specialist Roasted Duck. This portion cost $6, slightly more expensive than an equivalently-sized portion from Tiong Bahru Market.

I had asked for the fattier parts. The meat, marbled with lovely fat, was delicious. The burnt bits added extra crunch and flavour. Quite good! Their soup is pretty interesting too. I found bits of duck and dried orange peel in it.

Was supposed to attend a performance with Serena yesterday evening, so we decided to grab dinner first. We walked around the basement of Raffles City a bit, before she suggested Fruits Paradise. They actually specialize in fruit tarts, which I’d tried years ago, and didn’t really like – too healthy-tasting!

On leave today (and yesterday as well). Decided to go down to VivoCity to catch Life of Pi. Since it was still early, I went to Sushi Tei for lunch. Got a seat next to their full length windows and enjoyed the sea view immensely.

Ordered chicken katsu curry rice ($13.50) and agedashi tofu ($5).

The chicken katsu was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. And the curry was deliciously savoury and chock-full of potatoes, carrots and onions! The portion was really hearty to boot. Yum!!!

Third day of Chinese New Year today. Met a sorta new friend, A, for lunch at Ramen Santouka in The Central. How can anyone ever get tired of ramen? Amen.

As I had Shio Ramen during my previous visit, I opted for Shoyu Ramen this time, and ordered an extra egg to go with it.

The ramen, chockful of ingredients, was as good as ever. I usually prefer strong-tasting food, but thought that the flavours of the shoyu soup were a bit too heavy for my tastebuds, and I preferred the cleaner taste of the shio soup.